Latest News & Press Reports

Midland Road Relays – Sutton Park 29 March

 

Once again, a team of Gloucester AC distance runners made their way to Sutton Coldfield to race the Midland Spring Relays.

 

The day started off bright and breezy, almost ideal running conditions. This year the race was run over 12 short legs of just over 5 hilly kilometres.

 

The first runner out for the team was Charlie Worsfold. Coming off the back of a string of impressive 5km times Charlie got the team off to a strong start with a 16:04. Charlie Coles followed as the second runner. Clocking a 17:28 Coles took 49 seconds off of his previous best time on the course.

 

Taking over from Charlie was Owen Parry, who found the course tough after a couple of weeks of illness. Parry finished his stage in 17:51. The fourth stage was taken on by Alex Chernyshev, in his first road relays for the club. Despite having not recently run a 5km, Alex ran well and came home in a time of 17:17.

 

Fifth runner on the day was Luke Hine, starting off quickly Luke found the 2 mile tough, but rallied to post a 18:04. Next out was team manager, James Walters, who somehow managed get quicker with each mile and finished in 18:31.

 

Ryan Hearn was on the 7th stage. Despite have a half marathon scheduled for the next day, Ryan turned out for the club and covered his stage in 19:50. The 8th leg runner was Charles Wu. Running the relays for the first time, and despite his right shoe lace coming undone making cornering a dangerous manoeuvre, Wu finished in a respectable 19:58.

 

Wu was followed by another debutant at the event, Rob Buckley. Running in club colours for just the second time, Rob managed to clock a 22:09, which he said included a PB for 5km (a time which should drop significantly on a flat course).

 

Our 10th runner was drafted in relatively late. Chris Nield's training has recently been curtailed due to injury, although this did not stop him from running a 20:45. The next runner needs no introduction. Dave Gresswell has a wealth of experience of the relays. Another athlete who's training has been limited this winter, Dave completely his leg in 21:33.

 

The final leg was run by another long standing club member, Lee Smith. Running in his trademark smooth style, Smith ran a 21:26 and brought the team home in a time of 3:50:56. The team finished a respective 31st overall. 

 

Gloucester 10K

 

Three Gloucester AC runners were in the top 11 at the Gloucester 10k on Sunday. Marc Barnett achieved a podium spot with third place in a time of 35:09, Eugenio Diz came in 6th with 37:01 and Mike Hall 11th with 38:11. 

 

 

Berkeley Fission 20

 

Three Gloucester AC runners also took part in the Berkeley Fission 20 on Sunday 23rd March. Seen as good marathon training, just under 400 runners took part in the race as part of the Gloucestershire AAA county championship. Michael Hall ran alongside former Gloucester AC veteran Jeremy Mower for the first half and found the next half tough going but recorded a strong time of 2:16:31, 57th overall and 4th M45, and picked up points for the championship. Simon Meadows and Emma Stalberg were both training for marathons and ran smoother races to finish with times of 2:20:32, 76th & 7th M45 for Simon and 2:40:17 157th and 5th F45.

English Schools Cross Country Championship

 

Several Gloucester Athletic Club middle distance young athletes represented Gloucestershire Schools or Avon Schools at the Cross Country Championships at Ardingley in West Sussex

First to race was Intermediate girl Livvi Avery. Over a hilly two lap 3.75k course Livvi started fast to be about 30th place passing through the narrowing course at the end of the start straight. She continued to ease though the field before accelerating along the last 800m to finish in 22nd place only 16 second outside the coveted 10th place which gained selection to represent England. With another year in the age group Livvi will be looking forward to next year’s race.

 

Junior Boy Callum Yates raced 2.85k taking sensible racing lines to avoid the crowded field coming 207th in 9:45.

 

Junior girls Molly Holland and Lily-Sienna Leon-Hodgson covered the same course with all of Gloucestershire’s scoring 6 runners packing well finishing within 36 second of each other to gain the highest team placing for the county of 8th. Lill placed 43rd in 10:04 after suffering from stitch and Molly 140th in 10:37.

 

As runners have to in this closely contested event, Intermediate boy Joe Cruise started extremely quickly to gain a good position then coasted the middle section of the 4.8k race. Finding it difficult to pick his way through the crowded course he accelerated over the last 1k to improve by about 40 seconds finishing second Gloucestershire scorer in 16:32 for 191st place.

 

Senior girls ran a shorter but still hilly and rutted course. Ruth Brook still gaining fitness after a year of shin splints stayed focused throughout the race moving through the field as she sustained pace for 106th and 3rd county scorer in 15:38. Felicity Lowe representing Avon Schools completed the 4.1k in 17:06 for 237th place.

 

Senior Boy Anthony Cruise raced 6k  and after a very fast start finished  219th in 20:36.

 

In other news, Charlie Coles raced the Podium 5k in Leicester coming 46th in race G. Despite having side effects of a vaccination from the day before he ran 16:37 only a few seconds off his personal best.

 

Lucas Clark-Savage was in action again as he competed at Basingstoke Athletic Club on Saturday, achieving another personal best in the Under-17 hammer with a throw of 38.56m. 

 

Inter-counties Cross Country Championship

 

Some superb performances from several Gloucester Athletic Club middle distance young athletes represented Gloucestershire on a warm summer-like day in Nottingham. The Inter-counties Cross Country Championship gave the selected athletes the chance to compete against the best in the United Kingdom, so it was a great achievement just to be there.

 

Molly Holland raced the U13G 3k one lap race to come in second from Gloucestershire in 82nd position in 13:10 only one second behind the first placed county runner.

 

Joe Cruise, running in the U15B  event was hampered by having a low position in the starting pen and had to weave through the closely packed field. He has improved a lot since the beginning of this season and completed the 4k event as first Gloucestershire scorer with 14:46 for 75th place.

 

Callum Yates, who has focused on speed rather than endurance, finished in 245th in 16:22.

 

Estelle and Felicity Lowe, representing Avon, raced the 5k U17W race with Estelle coming 128th in 21:59 over a very hilly course and Felicity 205th in 23:26 being Avon’s second and third scoring runners.

 

Arthur Nield raced the 6k U17M event running strongly on the hills for 3rd county runner, in 22:07 and 173rd place.

 

Olivia Avery lead the county team home in a strongly fought 36th place (16:13)  over the 2 lap race 4k U15 Girls race. Lily-Sienna Leon-Hodgson developing into a confident racer took 47th place in 16:29. Bella Smith ran a strong and well-paced race for 230th in 18:41. The U15G team was 15th.

 

Throwing events

 

Other Glos AC athletes showcased their throwing talents including Lucas Clark-Savage and his training partner Zachary Brink. They travelled to Birmingham to enjoy the sun and both achieved PBs. Lucas with a 5kg hammer threw 37.60m and Zachary with a 4kg hammer threw 24.97m.

 

Veteran hammer thrower Andy McKenzie made the trip to Horspath, Oxford, on Sunday for the BMAF Winter Throws Championships.

 

Andy started out 30 years ago as a distance runner, competing in cross-country and road races for the club, and got drawn in to help out the track and field team when they re-entered the Midland League back in 1999 by doing the steeplechase. He then tried his hand at other events and found a liking for the hammer. An achilles injury stopped him running for a while so he decide to concentrate more on the hammer under the expert coaching of Lorraine Shaw and ended up throwing a pb of 32.03 in 2004, not bad for a marathon runner! After a break for family reasons, he started competing again in 2013.

 

Competing in the M60-64 age category against some of the best throwers from across the country, with athletes travelling from as far as Scotland, Kent and Devon, he acquitted himself well with a best throw with the 5kg hammer of 23.62m for 7th place. In the far more rarely contested weight throw, he achieved a best throw with the 9.08kg implement of 9.11m for 6th place.

 

Indoor Championships 

 

It was the last indoor competitions of the season for Gloucester AC athletes as Ella Edwards competed in the British Indoor Championships and Ben Reeves competed in the British Masters Indoor Championships.

 

Ella did great! She came in 3rd place in her heat and qualified for the semi-finals. She ended up 15th out of 28 athletes. She’ll take some time to rest, recover, and get ready for the outdoor season.

Ben also had a great time! He set a new club record for M45 in his heat with a time of 7.76s. He finished 10th overall out of 21 athletes and missed the finals by just .06 seconds.

 

Congratulations to them both and all the athletes over the indoor season. Gloucester have had 6 athletes at national championships and some just missing out on qualification. Loads of personal bests, season bests, club records, regional medals, and national medal. 

 

English National Cross-Country Championships 2025 – Saturday 22 Feb 2025

 

A number of Gloucester AC athletes headed over to London and Parliament Hill for the English National Cross-Country Championships 2025. As described by the live-streaming commentator, “Parliament Hill is what Lords is to cricket, what Wimbledon is to tennis, what Wembley is to football and what the Crucible is to snooker!” With heavy overnight rain, the going was made very tough.

 

James Walters, who has ran the event twice before, said it was the worst conditions he had experienced there. In a lot of places, the mud was over the ankles, making running a hard task.

 

The first race was the U17 Women, running a 5K course. New to the club, Felicity and Estelle Rowe performed brilliantly, both with top 100 finishes. Felicity finished in 76th with 24:04 and Estelle finished with 24:19 in 85th place.

 

Arthur Nield running in the 6K U17 Men’s race, was off next for Gloucester and ran well to finish 150th with a time of 26:13, describing the course as the hardest he’s ever ran. 

 

James Walters and Luke Hine ran in the Senior Men’s 12K, the final race of the day. Luke, running with spikes that were ripped and on their last legs, ran a great race to finish just over 1 hour in 1:00:11 in 656th place, luckily his shoes remained intact. Unsurprisingly, it was James’s slowest time on the course who, despite maintaining he is ‘too young to fall’ tripped on a tarmac path but still finished well in the top half in 889th place with a time of 1:04:00.

 

 

Bourton 10K – Sunday 23 February 2025

 

Well-done to all who ran the Bourton 10K on Sunday. Thankfully, it avoided the worst of the weather, but was still windy and colder than expected.

 

Not far behind the leader, and wearing the Red & White of Gloucester AC, was a group containing Richard DeCamps, and Charlie Worsfold. Both finished strongly, with Rich securing 3rd, and Charlie 5th overall. Next back was Anthony Cruise, who despite a bit of an injury scare earlier in the week, was ‘patched up’ and had a storming race to finish 16th. This meant Gloucester AC secured the men’s team competition victory.

 

Owen Parry, who himself has been suffering with a few niggles, was not far behind. Hindered by the strong wind, as he did find himself running on his own, so not much shelter. That said, a sub-35 min time and 22nd place was still a good day at the office.

 

Michael Graham Hall was next across the line. After spending as good 18 months trying to break 40 mins for 10k, Mike now seems to do it for fun, and running just over 38 mins he also secured a place well inside the top 100.

 

Tracy Jane Hinxman was also under the 40 min barrier and picked up 1st LV50 prize. She was hoping for a better time, and perhaps training, and recent races would suggest she is capable of faster. However, on a blustery day in February, it’s still a strong start to the road race season for her.

Ryan Hearn also managed to dip under 40 mins. Ryan has been running well recently after a few years away from regular running and racing. I think there is a lot more to come from him.

 

Amber Spackman, who is probably better known at the club for her support of the track & field team, running 400m up to 1,500 and sometimes more, tackled a road 10k. Paced by Jason Tilley, who is returning from a long term injury, the pair had their sights set on a 43min time. In the end, with Jason’s help, Amber crushed that target and finished in under 42 mins!

 

Next back, and just outside the top 200, was Norman Ward, and nearly 2 mins behind him, Dave Gresswell. A personal worst, but lack of training for two months has taken its toll. But he still enjoyed himself.

Gloucester AC middle distance athletes enjoyed a very muddy final Gloucestershire Cross Country League meeting at Pittville Park, Cheltenham on Saturday. There was lots of action at the stream with some runners slipping, falling, rolling and even getting a free mud face mask!

 

First to race over 3k was Molly Holland coming in 3rd U13G in 11:00 to take fourth league place missing third by one point. Henry Tipper was 11th U13B in 11:29 and Johannes Mundy 33rd in 13:27. U11B Thomas Cowell was 11th in 10:07, Archer Hastings 32nd in 11:19 and Bethany Harris 8th girl in 10:29.

 

Joe Cruise ran his best tactical race ever in the U15 5k, holding 5th place after 800m then very steadily to move through the field to finish first by a convincing 20 seconds. A recent change in training added to consistent training caused him to remark afterwards that he felt easy and strong throughout the race. Ethan Norris, again benefitting from improved training, finished 12th in 20:06 and Harry Overthrow 13th in 20:49.

 

The U15 girls raced at the same time and Livvi Avery paced well over the undulating course. Starting steadily, she worked on removing a 50m lead only to fall on a slippery downhill turn to lose it. Undeterred she made steady progress to catch the lead girl with a very determined sprint over the last 100m to finish first and take the league silver medal. Lilliah Wood ran 39:47 for 9th U15G.

 

Several Gloucester runners tool part in the 6.5k race as it combines many age groups. Arthur Nield finished strongly as 6th U17 man in 25.24, his highest league placing. Next to come in was Ruth Brook -2nd U17W - in 27:57, silver league medal and describing this as a “fun race”. Anna Midgley enjoyed a slow start but faster second lap in her first cross country race since October for 5th W50 place in 32:19. Increased fitness for M75 Arthur Daley caused him to start a little too fast but he finished strongly for first category place and taking the gold medal in 35:25. Grace Hinga didn’t race on Saturday, but her previous results gave her the league silver medal for W50.

 

Charlie Worsfold ran the senior men 9.8k race with a strong 4th place (35:09) and first U20 man for the bronze league medal. Matt Singer came 105 in 48:53 and Martin Brook 116th in 50:31.

 

Amazingly, less than 24 hours after racing in the Gloucestershire Cross Country league in Cheltenham, Charlie Worsfold also competed in the very hilly Dursley Dozen. This is a 12-mile race across demanding terrain including hills, woodland, open country, mud, roads and gravel paths. Starting in the lead he stayed ahead of over 450 other runners and established a one minute winning margin in 1:23:57. Incredible running Charlie!

 

Here's a great write up in The Stroud Times

https://stroudtimes.com/video-and-pictures-charlie-romps-home-to-win-dursley-dozen/

 

Two other athletes travelled across the country as Callum Yates went up to Manchester and Lucas Savage went down to Basingstoke.  Callum competed in the 600m at the Manchester Open on Sunday. With a brilliant time of 1:33.6 it was PB for Callum who raced in the age group above him and achieved second place. Callum is now less than one second off the club record and is closing in fast! Well done to Lucas who was aiming for a hammer throw of over 30m and smashed it with 31.66m at the Basingstoke Throws Winter Series.

 

A fantastic highlight for Glos AC was watching Ella Edwards compete in the women’s 60m at the Keely Klassic in Birmingham. Broadcast on BBC iPlayer, Ella was pitted against top National & International sprinters and performed marvellously.

 

This weekend, five of our Gloucester Athletic Club athletes competed in the England Indoor Championships in Sheffield. They faced tough competition from the best in the country, testing their skills and determination.

 

Amari Cambridge and Olivia Pachula kicked off the day for the u15G category. Amari finished 5th in her heat, just missing the semi-finals by a mere .02 seconds. It was tough for Amari to miss out to such a close call, but she showed great spirit finishing the day ranked 21st out of 51 athletes.

 

Olivia Pachula took the stage and ran just off her season best of .02 seconds. She showed incredible courage to overcome an injury that sidelined her for part of the summer and early winter. With limited sprint training, she still managed to qualify and go out there to compete. We’re happy to see her progress to date and can’t wait to see her reach her very best in the outdoor season.

 

Troy Turner made his national debut and showed incredible determination despite limited training. He made it to the semi-finals just outside his personal best and finished in the top 20 on the day. This is an amazing achievement for him, and he left with a smile on his face.

 

James Arminio, who joined the team in September, quickly rose through the ranks to qualify for his first nationals. He achieved a personal best of 7.06s on the day and finished 6th in his heat, just missing the semi-finals by .01 seconds. As a first-year u20 in a highly competitive group, he demonstrated his potential and is an exciting prospect.

 

Ella Edwards has been a star since she joined the club’s youth academy, the multi-event group with Matt Holloway, and now the sprint group with Justin Wesley Smith. She’s broken many records, won county and regional medals, and even made it to the national finals, school games, and the British Championship semi-finals. But the one thing she’s always wanted is a national medal, and she totally nailed it!

 

She started the day in the heats and ran a time of 7.58s, putting her in the running for the win. She went into the semi-finals with a tough field and won in a personal best of 7.51s, which is a new club record for the under-20s. And then, the big moment the u20 finals! She showed her skills and fought hard from the start to the finish, taking second place and the silver medal in a super competitive race with a time of 7.53s. It was an incredible performance, and she totally deserved it!

 

Seven senior Glos AC men lined up at the start of the final fixture in this seasons Birmingham League Division 2 fixture. A much smaller team than anticipated, but at least the six needed to make a scoring team, plus one extra for safety, should anything happen mid-race.

 

The weather was much colder than expected, and was rather a grey and drizzly afternoon, at the Aldersley, Wolverhampton course. The course gave an uphill start and uphill finish and at the gun Gloucester’s top two men, Richard Rich De-Camps and Charlie Worsfold, set off with intent with the lead runners.

 

They were followed by Owen Parry, and then Luke Hine and James Walters who were to enjoy a private battle throughout the race. They were followed by Robert Buckley running in club colours for the first time, in hist first ever cross country race. Trailing off the back of the pack, and just hoping that the others all got around without incident was Dave Gresswell.

 

Richard and Charlie both had cracking runs, with Rich finishing 3rd, and Charlie 5th overall.

With the support of the other guys, Gloucester Athletic Club have maintained their place in Division 2. Richard, who also finished 2nd in the first two fixtures, picked up an individual silver medal for the season, a great achievement, well deserved, and the team and club were glad that he got something for his efforts again this year. 

 

On Saturday several members of the Gloucester AC middle distance group travelled to Newquay to represent either Gloucestershire or Avon Schools. 

 

First to race were senior girls Ruth Brook and Felicity Lowe. Ruth was within the leading group then dropped a little to finish third county scorer in 9th place with 16:11 for the undulating and heavy 4.2k course. Felicity finished fourth scorer for the Avon team in 33rd place in 17:28.

 

Next to take on the cloying course was Callum Yates in the Junior Boys 3.2k circuit. Callum, who has also been focusing on speed, showed that to advantage in both his first and last 400m and was credited with 30th place in 12:34.

 

The Junior Girls raced the same course with Lily Sienna-Hodgson always in the leading group and coming home for the bronze medal in 13:02. Molly Holland in the year below Sienna ran strongly on the flat sections for 23rd in 14:03.

 

Joe Cruise ran the 4.7k Intermediate Boys race accelerating up the short sharp slopes completing the course in 18:18 for 28th place and using his track speed to take places over the last 200m.

 

Intermediate Girls Livvi, Evie Avery and Estelle Lowe raced the 3.8 event. Livvi, despite a cold affecting her breathing, was able to pull away on the short, sharp inclines with 15:29 giving her 7th place and third in the county. Evie is on her way to becoming a master of good pacing and thought this most tactical race she’s done started off slowly then picking off athletes one by one. Again, using her track speed in the finishing straight she was 20th in 16:24. Training companion Estelle was one place behind but with the same time starting towards the back of the pen and moving through to take 4th scorer position in the Avon team.

 

The final race of the afternoon was the senior boys 6.1k event with Anthony Cruise – always in the second group - demonstrating how to use acceleration up the short, sharp slopes to break up that group enabling him to become the second Gloucestershire finisher in 9th place in 20:48.

 

All are in line for selection by their respective county for the ESAA National CC Championship at Ardingly, Sussex on March 15th.

 

Other Gloucester AC athletes competed in competitions around the country as Harry Overthrow represented his school in an inter-school event in Birmingham on Wednesday making the A team after running 2.3 miles in 15 minutes and coming 45th. Charlie Coles represented Durham University in the BUCs  8k men’s CC Championship at Cardiff coming in 231st in 28:27.

 

Young athletes were also competing in indoor events over the weekend. First up, there was the non-Thomas Speed event, which also included the South West U20/Senior Championships in Cardiff. Ella Edwards and James Arminio both won their respective age group events over 60 meters and claimed gold medals on the day. Congrats to them!

 

Libby Andrews continued her incredible indoor season progress, especially in the 60-meter race. She improved her time by at least 0.26 seconds this season. Libby set her personal best (PB) of 9.01 seconds recently and wanted to break the 9 second barrier before the end of the indoor season. She broke the 9 second mark twice, with times of 8.99 seconds and 8.97 seconds! She thoroughly deserved it with her dedication, hard work and consistency at training to achieve this for herself. 

Saturday’s Welsh under-20 Championships in Cardiff was the last of William Richards-Baldwin's three indoor Shot competitions this winter season. The silver medal he won today in this higher age-group, the U20 category with a 6kg shot, delivering a throw of 11.18 metres, a club record for an U17 with the U20 shot.

 

Athletes headed over to Cardiff for the Non Thomas Sprint Open to sharpen their skills, improve on previous races and prepare for the national championships that are coming up soon.

 

We started the day with Amber Tandy, who’s been on fire lately. She ended the day with a time of 8.36s, which is a bit slower than she hoped, but she’s still working hard and has run her third-fastest time of the year so far. We’re building momentum for the rest of the season.

 

James Arminio was in his second competition of the year, hoping to gain more experience and run a bit faster. He managed to run just outside his personal best of 7.14s with a time of 7.18s. He’s been consistent throughout the season so far and a lot to look forward to.

 

Ben Reeves was in his second competition of the year, he wanted to improve his times from Loughborough, where he clocked a 7.78s. He ended the day with a season-best time of 7.77s and set a new M45 club record. He’s now in the final preparation for the British Master Championships in February.

 

Ella Edwards was already in great form and had set a new club record and personal best earlier in the season. She went out to build momentum towards the National Championships and British Championships. She set a new personal best of 7.55s and a new club record. This time also ties her third-fastest time of the year in the u20 category and taking confidence into the competitions coming up.

 

Jo Willoughby competed at Sheffield on Sunday 26th Jan in a British Masters Open event with some amazing results...

 

60m sprint 8.95s, Long jump 4.31m and Triple jump 9.77m. The jump of 9.77m doesn't just beat the club record, but is also a Women's 60 British age group record! The records shown are from before the event.

 

Jo's next event will be the Masters inter area match, followed by the British Masters Championships. Good luck Jo!

 

Several Gloucester Athletic Club seniors raced the Boddington 10 mile road race on Sunday. They experienced strong winds but missed the cold driving rain!

 

First to finish on the flat 4 lap course was Mike Hall in his longest race ever in 35th position with 62:40 gun time (chip time of 62:37). Simon meadows, was not too far behind in 65th with 66:54 (66:40) and Steve Robbins who’s training for the London Marathon and running at marathon pace, in 81st place talking nearly 5 minutes of his personal best with 68:41 (68:30).

 

Tracy Hinxman was the first Gloucester woman to  finish  with first W50 prize in 48th place and  64.17 (64:14). Anna Midgley, making a welcome return to racing, produced  a very even paced race – apart from a faster last mile – for 129th in 75:27 (75:27). Emma Stalberg, maintaining a high cadence over the first 7 miles, came 141st with 77:58 (77:48).

 

On the same day Lily Sienna-Hodgson came second with 17:07 in the U15 girls Welsh CC Championships at Pembrey Park and Bella Smith ran the undulating 4.09k course for 21st in 19:08.

 

Arthur Daley was the only Gloucester AC athlete taking part in the Midland Counties AA Cross Country Championships at Mallory Park on Sunday. The 8k, course with ankle deep mud in patch and several short and sharp inclines and declines, incorporated the Midland Masters AC Cross Country Championship with Arthur taking the gold medal for M75s in 74th place in 36:27.

Cross Country

 

Last Saturday was the 3rd fixture of this seasons Men’s Birmingham League Cross Country. This time hosted by Black Pear, at a course just north of Worcester, Top Barn. This was a new course for the Gloucester AC guys, so we had no idea what to expect.

On arrival, it was still difficult to know what the course looked like, so it was covered in a thick icy fog. The Midland Ladies hosted their fixture before the men, and we could just about make out the ghostly runners as they picked their way around the frozen course.

Needless to say, it was also very cold, with the temperature not going much above 2 degrees all day. This did mean not much mud, but of course spikes still needed, as was slippery in places. One positive, for those that are not keen on hills, is that the four lap course was very flat.

Gloucester put out a team of 9 runners, which was good, considering we had a lot of athletes unwell, injured, or unable to run. It was not the strongest team we have put out this season, but that said, the team performed above expectations, and it was great to see Steve Millward back running on the country again.

In fact it was Steve who lead the team home, closely followed by Owen Parry who had been chasing Steve most of the race.

Next back, and also making a welcome return this season, was Marc Barnett. Marc enjoyed the course, and described it as ‘fast’, but although happy with his run, he did feel he could have gone faster, maybe held back a bit too much as he was not certain of his fitness.

Luke Hines, and James Walter made up the next two scoring places, with Will Singer bagging the 6th final scoring team place.

Next back was Ryan Hearn, in his first cross county race for near 8 years. Andy Noakes followed him back, working his way through the field, after been caught out by the rather early start to the race, and thus was at the back of the back on the first lap. Arthur Daley, had a strong run, which gave him confidence for the upcoming Masters Cross Country later this month.

We should also mention Luke Herbert who helped officiate the race again, thus helping the team not loose points. Also, Paul and Sue de-Camps, who despite Richard being to unwell to race, still took the time to travel and support the guys. A big thank you, too, to Team Manager Dave Gresswell, who also braved the freezing conditions to help and support the team. 

After 3 fixtures, we think the team is still in the top half of the table, but we will need a full team out for the final fixture next month, if we are to gain promotion back to division 1.

 

Indoor Events

 

Gloucester AC athletes competed in different indoor events over the weekend. Callum Yates competed at an indoor meeting in Manchester on Sunday.

He ran U15 600m in 1min 35.01, Missing his personal best by 0.88sec. Quite an achievement considering he led the race from gun to tape, winning by 2.5secs. Therefore, it was more of a time trial, where he had to set his own pace and hold it. He was the fastest U15 on the day.

We are hopeful that in a more competitive race he will beat his personal best and come close to the club record. (Also set in Manchester, back in 2006 by Ben Coldray with a time of 1:32:98)

We also had a 6 athletes competing in the Loughborough Open. We had expected 8, but 2 had to drop out due to other commitments. Despite this, it was an amazing turnout for the group.

Most of the athletes were looking to kick off their season with others continuing their impressive performances in preparation for the nationals. Others were aiming to qualify for the national championships in February.

We had a great showing on the day with athletes giving it their all and putting in some solid performances. James Arminio made his debut in the 60m and achieved national qualification. And most importantly, we showed some consistency as we head back to the drawing board to prepare for Nationals in February for most of them. 

Amari Cambridge u15 - 8.09s =SB and National Qualification already and currently 10th in the UK.

Olivia Pachula u15 - 8.45s SB + National Qualification

Amber Tandy u17 - 8.24s PB + 0.4s off National Qualification

Ella Edwards (u20) - 7.67s + National Qualification already and currently 4th in the UK.

James Arminio (u20) - 7.14s PB + National Qualification

Ben Reeves (M40) - 7.79s SB

And the most exciting news from last week is that Ella Edwards has been invited back to the British Indoor Championships in February, which will be broadcast live on BBC Sport! A fantastic achievement! 

 

Gloucester AC Middle Distance training squad were competing in a couple of venues on the weekend of the 4th  & 5th January.

 

A cold but dry Saturday saw several young athletes, and an older one, racing the SW Cross Country Championships in RNAS Merryfield.

 

First to race was the group’s lead coach Arthur Daley who finished the only slightly muddy 7.2k course in 39:38 and was the first M75.

 

Livvi Avery - U15 Girl - raced the 3.2k course, which by then was getting muddier in sections, and was 3rd after 2k but dropped a little over the last kilometre to 5th in 13:09 for first Gloucestershire finisher. Her performance will give her confidence for the Midlands CC Championships at the end of the month and SW Schools CC Championship in February. Evie Avery ran a well-paced race with a sprint over the final 300m pulling her away from the chasing group for 21st place in 13:51 as second Gloucestershire competitor.

 

Estelle Lowe, returning to racing after a few months layoff finished tired but strongly in the U17W 4.4k event with 19:27 giving her 12th place and first Avon runner. Sister Felicity showed a fast finish again pulling away from the chasing runners for 17th place and 20:09 as third Avon athlete.

 

Under 15 boy Callum Yates travelled to Cardiff Indoor Arena on Sunday to race 800m. Callum, also coached by Paul Peplar to improve speed, led from the start to finish in a PB of 2:13.96 gaining the silver medal in the set of time trials.